LIMIT NUMBER OF HOMELESS SHELTERS, MAYOR`S TASK FORCE URGES

Manuel GalvanCHICAGO TRIBUNE

The number of residential care facilities and homeless shelters should be limited in neighborhoods, according to a mayoral task force report released Saturday.

Controls to monitor that process could include establishing minimum distances between facilities within each community and not allowing closed shelters to be replaced if a community`s limit has been reached.

Any recommendations in the report will need the backing of Mayor Harold Washington and the Chicago City Council if they are to be adopted. Most of the recommendations would require major changes in the city`s zoning code, including licensing homeless shelters.

According to the study, the current procedure for screening proposed residential care facilities does not address the needs of the community, the city`s dependent population or service providers.

Residential Care Facilities is the fourth of five reports released this year by the Mayor`s Task Force on Neighborhood Land Use.

Scott Hodes, the task force chairman, said the report`s recommendations would be considered and implemented.

The mayor has requested reports from dozens of task forces, but many of their recommendations are ''being studied,'' often a code word that means the recommendations have been shelved.

''The mayor has assured me personally there would be action on all the task force reports,'' Hodes said. ''I think the mayor is also dedicated to moving ahead on all five (land use) studies.''

Residential care facilities in Chicago date to the 1960s, when many large state-run institutions serving the mentally ill were closed. Many of Chicago`s zoning regulations predate that trend.

According to the report, its mission was to find a way to accommodate residential care facilities without harming a neighborhood`s character.

Based on that goal, and a survey of existing facilities, the report recommends that ''limits on residential care facilites need to be imposed'' to prevent communities from being inundated with nursing homes and halfway houses. The measure is also suggested for ''a more equitable distibution of facilities.''

Of the nearly 300 care facilities in Chicago, 69 percent are in only 10 of the city`s 77 neighborhoods, the study found. The highest concentration, 34 percent, is in the five community areas of Rogers Park, West Ridge, Edgewater, Uptown and Lincoln Park.

The city`s zoning code also would have to be amended to define the different types of facilities, such as housing for the elderly and the handicapped. It also would need to distinguish between facilities for permanent and temporary residents.

Finally, the report calls for a community hearing process for the facilities and a form of public education about the needs of the city`s dependent population.

Traditionally, residents in any community have acknowledged the need for care facilities but have fought against them being established in their neighborhoods.